Two Are Fatally Stabbed and Two Are Shot as Violence Follows Parade

Officers responding to a stabbing near Eastern Parkway and Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn after the West Indian American Day Parade.Credit
Kirsten Luce for The New York Times

The day had been mostly quiet, except for the thunder of police helicopters and the boom of reggae music coming from the colorful floats of the annual West Indian American Day Parade.

But not long after the official festivities ended, sirens started sounding and violence descended on pockets of Crown Heights, on and around the route off Eastern Parkway. By early evening, the police said, two men had been fatally stabbed and at least two people had been wounded in gun violence, breaking the tenuous calm in Brooklyn.

By the time the parade began around noon — a leisurely 60 minutes later than scheduled, bringing all of its feathery finery and island tunes — the New York City Police Department had long been visibly in place.

“There’s more of them than there are us,” said Vanada Miller, 58, who came from Queens and watched the parade from a bench on Eastern Parkway, wearing a shimmering silver top and waving a Jamaican flag. “It’s much too much, it takes away from it all. But I understand it.”

“I don’t know why people decide to come out and ruin other people’s fun with violence,” she said. “I don’t understand it, but it happens every year.”

In a parade marred by several fatal shootings in the previous nine years, the police had made their presence known — and not always in a positive manner.

Last year, some officers posted racist comments on Facebook about patrolling the parade, and others were caught on video dancing suggestively with participants. A city councilman, Jumaane D. Williams, was detained by the police. On Monday, the festivities carried a tense undercurrent of caution.

The police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, got a smattering of boos and some cheers when he walked the route in front of the department’s steel drum band float. The group played Bob Marley’s “One Love,” the message of “Let’s get together and feel all right” blaring from the speakers. When the float got to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Mr. Kelly jumped in on the drums.

The celebrations began over the weekend with smaller events and, Mr. Kelly had said Monday afternoon that there had been no reports of violence. He added that he hoped the rest of the day would go just as smoothly.

In recent years, most of the violence had taken place after the parade ended. The official end time for this year’s procession was 6 p.m., and by then the crowds had dispersed.

The police said on Monday evening that around 6:30 p.m., a dispute broke out between two men on St. Johns Place, two blocks from Eastern Parkway. One man, 26, died of stab wounds, and the other, 20, was arrested.

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Another man, 27, was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital after being stabbed on Eastern Parkway, around 6 p.m., the police said. And a woman, 24, and a man, 32, were shot about 5:15 p.m. on Eastern Parkway, the authorities said.

Last year, a resident of Crown Heights, Denise Gay, was sitting on her stoop when she was killed in the cross-fire between police officers and a gunman. That came on a Labor Day weekend in the city when 67 people were shot, 13 of whom died.

“It’s always unfortunate when you have a million-plus people here peacefully enjoying the parade and you have a small number who will do a violent act and that becomes the story,” State Senator Eric Adams, a Brooklyn Democrat, said earlier on Monday.

The behavior of individual police officers became as much of a story last year as the violence.

The Police Department came under scrutiny after the revelation that officers had posted on the Facebook page “No More West Indian American Day Detail.” One poster called participants “savages” and “animals,” and another suggested, “Let them kill each other.” Seventeen officers were disciplined.

Eric Gibbs, the chairman of the West Indian American Day Carnival Association, said he received an apology from Mr. Kelly after last year’s episodes.

“The statements made on Facebook were out of line,” Mr. Gibbs said, adding about the police, “However, we appreciate all they are doing for us.”

At their morning briefings, officers said, they were instructed only to “act professionally” — just as they are told every year. Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman, confirmed that and said the department expected officers to act properly, in balance with having a good sense of humor.

Some officers held a hard line. One woman attending the parade, Chasitiy Potts, 26, danced in a turquoise feather headdress; a turquoise, sequined bikini; and leather boots. She said that on the route at Rogers Avenue, she tried to be playful with a police officer and take a picture with him and other officers. But they would not allow it.

Ms. Taylor said she had been to the last 10 parades or so, and some aspects used to be more fun. It used to be easier to join in and dance alongside the floats, she said, and it used to last longer.

“It’s cops and the violence, but if there wasn’t so much violence, maybe they wouldn’t need so many cops or maybe they wouldn’t need to be so alert,” she said.

“We come early,” said Ms. Miller, who had been attending for 40 years and added that the younger generation often incited violence. “Because later on, when they start running, we can’t run with them. If they start shooting, I call my friend to come pick me up.”

Correction: September 8, 2012

An article on Tuesday about the annual West Indian American Day Parade in Brooklyn omitted, in some copies, part of a passage at the beginning of the continuation of the article. The passage should have read: “Last year, a resident of Crown Heights, Denise Gay, was sitting on her stoop when she was killed in the cross-fire between police officers and a gunman. That came on a Labor Day weekend in the city when 67 people were shot, 13 of whom died.”

Michael Schwirtz contributed reporting.

A version of this article appears in print on September 4, 2012, on Page A21 of the New York edition with the headline: 2 Are Fatally Stabbed After Parade Where the Police Are as Visible as the Revelers. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe